BeBook Reader

The BeBook reader is one of the newer eBook Readers on the market and offers some very nice features at a reasonable price, making it a viable alternative to its more established competitors.

Compare Price

Product Name	Store	Cost	Postage	Order
BeBook	MyBebook	£199.99	£0.00
BeBook	Amazon	£249.99	£0.00

Design:

Unwrapping the BeBook for the first time reveals a sturdy piece of kit made out of plastic and consisting of a series of buttons located underneath the screen to help the reader carry out a number of functions such as page turning, enlarging the text and transferring your chosen texts from your Mac or PC.

While the BeBook may lack the kind of stylish design that has made the Sony Reader so popular, the simple design is easy to use and offers a certain sturdiness when your carrying the BeBook around in public.

Display

The BeBook comes complete with a 6″ reflective screen which displays fonts at an impressive 170dpi.

The screen allows fonts to be enlarged to help those readers who require some assistance when reading, although it’s slightly disappointing to note that there are only three different settings when it comes to font size.

No matter what size setting you decide to use though, text will be displayed using e-ink technology which which ensures that content is displayed with a razor sharpness that makes it easy to read even in bright sunlight. Unfortunately though, the screen doesn’t offer any back lightening meaning that it’s not as easy to read in the dark. If you’re planning on doing a fair bit of reading before dropping off to sleep, then I’d make sure that your partner is going to be alright with you leaving the light on at bedtime!

Memory:

The BeBook reader comes with a very impressive 512MB of internal memory meaning users are able to store around 1,000 books on it from the moment that it comes out of the box. This is just as well given the fact that the BeBook comes with 150 titles pre-installed.

Of course, those of you who want/need more memory can store additional content on a SD card meaning that users can carry around a whole lifetime of reading on a BeBook reader and a 4GB memory card.

Additional Features:

There are some very nice features on the BeBook reader most notably its ability to display RSS feeds. Although there is no Wi-Fi functionality, users can still connect their device to any PC or Mac and download a number of their favourite feeds to read while they’re traveling – something that users of the Sony reader are currently unable to do.

Endless Ideas (the company who manufacture the BeBook) also claim that their device can read more file formats than any other reader currently on the market. While this is true on paper one important point needs to be clarified.

The BeBook can read an awful lot of file formats … as long as those files are not DRM encrypted. Unfortunately, the vast majority of commercial ebook sellers (such as Amazon and Waterstones) only supply DRM encrypted books for security reasons. With this in mind, you may well find it difficult to add books to the library if they’re not listed on the MyBeBook website.

Conclusion:

With a larger internal memory than any of its competitors, MP3 support and the ability to access RSS feeds, the BeBook offers users a solid way of getting into the world of electronic reading.

Unfortunately there are also some disappointments most notably the fact that the product doesn’t support DRM encrypted texts and the lack of a back-lit screen which can make reading difficult on long journeys.

Technical Specifications:

Dimensions:
Height: 184mm
Width: 120mm
Depth: 10mm

Weight:
220g

Display:
170dpi; 6″; E Ink technology;

Internal Memory:
512MB (approximately 1000 books)

File Formats Supported:

MOBI	PRC	EPUB
RTF	Adobe PDF 10.0	Microsoft Word
GIF	PNG	BMP
MP3	AAC	LIT
HTML	MP3	RAR
DJVU	WOL	TIF

Battery:
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery lasts up to 7,000 page turns on a four hour charge

Warranty:
One-year

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